


A Journey with Purpose

by Oh_Neil



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime), Pokemon - Fandom
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-02
Updated: 2020-07-30
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:53:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25035751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oh_Neil/pseuds/Oh_Neil
Summary: When Matt Fuuro's Sinnoh adventure is brought to a screeching halt by his grandfathers failing health, how will he and his sister Skyla recover as Matt heads back to Sinnoh, getting caught up with Ash, Dawn, Brock and their crazy adventures. And will he keep the promise he made to his grandfather? Rated Teen for language
Kudos: 1





	1. Chapter 1 - Highs and Lows

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone and welcome to my first multi chapter fic and something different from my one shot last year
> 
> This story will primarily focus on my OC and his journey throughout Sinnoh and Unova, loosely following the D+P anime through Sinnoh.
> 
> Some Notes before we start:  
> Pokémon can learn a maximum of 8 moves at once - only fully evolved Pokémon and certain others (i.e. Ash’s pikachu) will know 8 moves,  
> Most people are aware of mega evolution but very few people actually have mega stones  
> Gym leaders can scale their teams to a challengers experience and the number of gym badges collected as trainers can challenge the gyms in any order.
> 
> I’m not the most disciplined of writers so I can’t promise a regular posting schedule, and with me following the anime to an extent it might take a while between chapters. At the time of posting Chapter 1, I’m currently about a quarter of the way through chapter 3, so hopefully I’ll keep on top of things
> 
> But with all that said, I hope this turns out ok and not like a steaming pile of shi...take mushrooms ;)
> 
> Also if you have any suggestions for side characters and/or Pokémon for the main characters (Matt my OC, Ash, Dawn, maybe Brock) to capture, leave a review or send a message, just give me a reason to go with it. I already have some ideas but I’m open to more.
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Pokémon franchise (even though I wish I did), all I own are my OCs
> 
> “Talking”  
> ‘Thoughts’  
> “Pokémon Moves” (let me know if you want me to keep it like this for future battles or not)  
> “Pokespeech/telepathic communication”
> 
> Enjoy

**Chapter 1:** **Highs and Lows**

_ Snowpoint Gym, Snowpoint City, Sinnoh _

Matt Fuuro let out a small shiver, which was partially because of the adrenaline and partly because of the blast of icy air that hit him as he opened the doors to the gym, drawing the attention of the two occupants inside. As he approached them he took in his surroundings, especially the battle field, which was a thick layer of ice with a small number of icy rocks jutting out across the field. He was thankful he had spent time with his Pokémon making sure they were not going to be impeded in their movement because of the field. Regaining focus, he quickly turned his attention back towards the two people standing in the centre of the field, the woman on the left he quickly identified as Candice, the gym leader of the Snowpoint gym who was wearing a white shirt and brown skirt, with her hair tied up in her signature look and the man on the right was an older gentleman, but was dressed in the official outfit of a Pokémon referee.

He eventually came to a stop, a few metres away from the two and gave a small bow to them both.

“Good afternoon, my name is Matt Fuuro and I am here for a gym battle,” he explained.

“I guessed,” Candice replied a moment later, a small smirk on her face before it turned into a thoughtful frown, “Fuuro,” she mused, “I recognise that name from somewhere.”   
  


“Probably from my older sister Skyla, the Mistralton gym leader from back in Unova,” Matt replied easily.

Candice clicked her fingers in recognition, “Aha, now I remember, she mentioned a brother that was helping out at her gym at the last leader conference. I’m surprised you’re not taking on the Unova gyms first.” she commented.

“I wanted to gain some experience first, so I travelled around Unova for a few months before heading here since the Vertress conference was only a week away by the time I finished.” 

“Makes sense I guess, now how many gym badges do you have?” Candice asked.

“Seven, so only one more to go,” he responded.

“Seven already, goodness you work quick,” she exclaimed in mild shock.

Matt scratched his arm sheepishly, “Yeah, at least I have plenty of time to travel and train before the Lily of the Valley Conference, rather than scramble with just a few weeks of proper training beforehand.” he explained.

“Alrighty then so that means I can go all out,” Candice said with a wide grin on her face, “does a 4v4 battle sound good to you?”

“Perfect,” Matt replied, a wry grin also appearing on his face.

“Excellent,” she exclaimed, before turning to the referee, “Is everything set up to go Graham?” 

“All set Candice,” the now identified Graham replied, “if the both of you would like to take your positions, we’ll start right away.”

“Alrighty, best of luck to you Matt,” Candice said as she turned and walked to her side of the field.

“You too,” Matt responded with a grin, as he did the same, fingering the small pokeball necklace around his neck as he walked.

When they were both in position, Graham stepped forward from his position at the raised platform at the side of the field.

“May I have your attention,” he shouted, “this is an official Snowpoint gym battle between the challenger Matt from Mistralton City and the gym leader Candice from Snowpoint City. Four  Pokémon can be used for each side. The challenge will be completed when all four of one sides  Pokémon are unable to battle. Furthermore, only the challenger may exchange  Pokémon during the battle.

“Let’s do this!” Candice exclaimed, clearly psyched up, “Froslass!” as she threw her pokeball into the air, releasing Froslass, an Ice/Ghost dual type that looked humanoid in appearance but floated above the ground.

Matt let out a deep breath, a calm yet quietly confident grin on his face. 

“Alright then, let's go Milotic,” he exclaimed, throwing his own ball into the air, the Tender  Pokémon coming forth with a beautiful cry.

Matt and Candice stared each other down for a moment as they both prepared for a tough battle.

“Milotic vs Froslass, let the challenge begin,” Graham shouted.

“Milotic,  **Water Pulse** ,” Matt ordered quickly, Milotic reacting to his shout immediately, letting the burst of water loose with a cry.

“Counter with  **Shadow Ball** Froslass,” Candice responded. 

“Fros” Froslass acknowledged and quickly charged up the ghostly energy before firing it directly at the oncoming water, meeting it in the middle in a beautiful explosion.

“Use  **Thunderbolt** Froslass,” Candice commanded as soon as the attacks made contact with each other, making Matt’s eyes widen in alarm as the Snow Land  Pokémon raised it arms up and with a cry of “Laass” released the powerful electric attack into the air, arcing down directly towards Milotic.

“Crap, Milotic  **Protect** ,” Matt ordered hastily, knowing that a thunderbolt like that would hurt immensely.

“Mii” Milotic cried out as her eyes glowed, the green barrier appearing around her just in time as the Thunderbolt impacted it just seconds later, the barrier just doing enough to stop it.

“Don’t let up Froslass,  **Shadow Ball** again,” Candice shouted, seeing Milotic breathing heavily as the Protect faded. Froslass gave a cry of agreement, charging up another ball of ghostly energy and releasing it straight towards Milotic.

Matt’s eyes lit up as he saw a chance for one of his strategies to pay off as Froslass had, unaware to all, moved slightly closer to Milotic as the battle progressed.

“Milotic slide forward and duck under it,” he ordered gleefully, causing Candice’s eyes to narrow in suspicion.

Milotic did as instructed, using the icy ground to slide herself forward and then as the shadow ball was directly in front of her, she flattened herself against the surface, letting the attack sail over her harmlessly all the while continuing her momentum towards Froslass.

“Now spin and use  **Iron Tail** ,” he shouted triumphantly, making Candice’s eyes shoot open in alarm.

“Froslass dodge,” she yelled urgently, but to no avail, as Milotic’s momentum was too much as she quickly drew back her tail as she was still sliding, it glowing bright silver, and brought it down on Froslass before she had the chance to move an inch.

  
“Frooosss,” Froslass yelled in pain as the super effective attack hit home, sending her crashing down into the ground.

“Don’t let up Milotic, use  **Scald** ,” Matt ordered.

“Miii” Milotic cried as she charged up the attack, Froslass still struggling to regain its bearings from the Iron Tail, “Looo!” as the stream of hot water was sent down towards Froslass who couldn’t do anything but let it hit, creating a cloud of steam as the water melted parts of the ice.

“Froslass!” Candice cried, her voice full of concern as the steam started to clear, revealing Milotic standing tall above Froslass, who was clearly unconscious with swirls in her eyes.

“Froslass is unable to battle, Milotic is the winner,” Graham declared, “leader Candice, please send out your next Pokemon.”   
  
“That was a very good strategy Matt," Candice commented as she recalled Froslass, 

"Thanks, it's something I've been working on with Milotic for the last few days in preparation," Matt replied, happy that the training had paid off. 

"I hope you have some more of those up your sleeve as it's time to ramp it up," Candice exclaimed, "Glaceon let's go!" 

The ice type eeveelution emerged gracefully from his pokeball, staring down Milotic as he landed. 

"Glacee!" 

"Hmm," Matt mused, "Milotic return," he said, returning his water type to her ball, "good job, I'll be counting on you again if it comes to it."

"All right Aipom, let's do this," he shouted, throwing his second ball into the air, releasing the monkey  Pokémon , chittering excitedly. 

"Aipom vs Glaceon, begin!" Graham shouted. 

"Aipom,  **Swift** ," Matt commanded quickly. 

"Ai pom pom" Aipom chattered, swinging in tail in an arc, releasing the glowing stars that went soaring towards Glaceon at breakneck speeds. 

Candice just smirked, something that unnerved Matt slightly, "Glaceon, use  **Mirror Coat** then follow it up with  **Ice Shard** ," she shouted. 

"Glacee!" Glaceon exclaimed, glowing brightly as the stars from Aipom's swift collided, bouncing them back even faster than before. But to make matters worse, As soon as he dropped the coat, he opened his mouth and released a torrent of spiky shards of ice, which closely followed the reflected swift. 

"Aipom dodge quickly," Matt yelled, knowing that the combination of attacks could put Aipom almost out of commission. Unfortunately for Aipom, the attacks were coming too fast to properly dodge, and she caught the full brunt of the ice shards, sending her flying into the side of the arena with a heavy  _ SLAM _ . 

"Aipa!" Aipom cried out in pain, falling heavily to the ground. 

"Finish it with  **Iron Tail** Glaceon," Candice shouted. 

Glaceon was already running forward as Candice was still issuing her command, her glowing bright silver, all the while Aipom was still struggling to regain her footing. 

"Aipom, block it with  **Fury Swipes** ," Matt ordered, praying that she could get back up in time. 

"Aipa!" Aipom screeched, her paws glowing white, as she regained her footing just as Glaceon jumped and was bringing his tail down. Aipom managed to catch the tail in between her paws, but was struggling to hold it off. 

"Send it flying with  **Focus Punch** !" Matt shouted, knowing Aipom couldn't hold it for much longer. 

" **Icy Wind** ," Candice responded. 

Aipom tried to bring her tail around to swat away Glaceon, but the Fresh Snow Pokemon countered with a blast of icy air that slowed Aipoms tail to a near halt. 

"Come on Aipom power through, I know you can do it," Matt cried. 

"AIPOOMMMM!" Aipom screeched, and despite the ice that had started to encase her tail, she powered through, but not with Focus Punch. 

Aipoms Tail crashed into Glaceons side twice in quick succession, sending Glaceon flying back several feet, and when he came to a stop, Aipom started glowing brightly as her form began to grow, making Matt grin in excitement and Candice frown in slight annoyance. 

  
  
  


"Ambi Ambi," the newly evolved Ambipom chittered excitedly, but Matt could see that she was at her limit, but so was Glaceon. 

"Alright Ambipom, let's finish this with  **Focus Punch** ," Matt ordered. 

"Counter with  **Iron Tail** again Glaceon," Candice commanded. 

Ambipom and Glaceon charged forward, both their tails glowing brightly, and as they collided, a large shock wave erupted from where they made contact, sending a plume of smoke billowing into the air, blinding both Matt and Candice. 

When the smoke cleared both Ambipom and Glaceon were still standing on wobbly legs, but then, after a couple of seconds, they gave each other a nod of respect, before they both fell to the floor with swirls in their eyes. 

"Both Ambipom and Glaceon are unable to battle, both trainers please send out your next  Pokémon ," Graham shouted. 

Matt let out a content sigh as he recalled Ambipom, "I'm proud of you Ambipom, now you get some good rest," the ball shaking slightly as Ambipom heard her trainers' thanks. 

"Well this is turning out to be a good battle Matt, but it's time to shake it up a bit," Candice called out, causing Matt to cock his head slightly. 

"Let's roll Medicham," she shouted, as she threw her third poke all up, revealing the dual fighting/psychic type. 

"Interesting," Matt muttered to himself, "Galvantula let's do this," he said, releasing his third  Pokémon and first capture from Unova. 

"Ahh an Unovan native," Candice said, "a bug and electric type if I'm not mistaken?" she asked, getting a nod in return from Matt. 

"Well in that case, Medicham, start this off with  **Fire Punch** ," she ordered. 

Medicham's arm became encased in a fiery glow as it shot off towards the EleSpider  Pokémon in a flash, but Matt wasn't concerned, he had a feeling Medicham would know this for bug types that it may encounter. 

"Wait for it to come closer Galvantula," Matt instructed calmly, making Candice's eyes narrow slightly. 

"Now slide left and use  **Sticky Web** ," he commanded when Medicham was only a few feet away. 

"Gal,” Galvantula said, sliding effortlessly across the ice, easily dodging the charging Medicham, and as he passed, he released the web, wrapping the Meditate  Pokémon tightly in a cocoon of webbing.

“Medi cham cham!” Medicham cried out, struggling to escape from it’s prison with little success.

“Medicham, try to break out with  **Fire Punch** ,” Candice cried out.

“Don’t give it the chance, use  **Bug Buzz** ,” Matt commanded.

Medicham’s arm once again caught fire as it tried even harder to escape, but before it had the chance to properly try, Galvantula launched the powerful bug type attack, which Medicham was powerless to block, sending it flying across the arena, which did major damage, but had the side effect of removing the remainder of the Sticky Web.

“Don’t let up,  **Bug Bite** ,” Matt ordered, pressing his advantage.

“Stop it with  **Confusion** Medicham,” Candice cried desperately.

Galvantula set off at remarkable speeds for being on ice, but unfortunately Medicham had heard the order in the nick of time, as it’s eyes started glowing and Galvantula was brought to a screeching halt, before being lifted several feet into the air.

“It’s struggling Galvantula, finish it off with  **Discharge** ,” Matt said, seeing the strain that Medicham was under to keep Galvantula in place.

“Gaaalll,” Galvantula said, as its body started sparking as it charged up the powerful electric attack, “Vantulaaaa!” it roared as it released it, giving Medicham no time to dodge as it was sent flying into the wall with a loud  _ THUD _ .

“Medicham is unable to battle,” Graham shouted, seeing Medicham embedded in the side of the arena, clearly unconscious, “gym leader Candice, please send out your last  Pokémon .”

“Wait,” Matt called out, “I’m forfeiting Galvantula,” he said, seeing that his EleSpider was panting heavily, the Confusion attack, the power of the Discharge and the fall when he was released from the psychic hold clearly taking a lot out of him.

“Gal Gal,” Galvantula protested weakly, turning to face his trainer.

“It’s alright Galvantula, you don’t have to pretend for my sake,” Matt replied with a small smile on his face, “you were brilliant but I don’t want you to hurt yourself unnecessarily,” he explained, which caused Galvantula to relent.

“Very well,” Graham said as Matt recalled Galvantula, “Matt has forfeited his Galvantula, please send out your next  Pokémon .”   
  


“It's been a while since he got a proper challenge,” Candice called out, “Abomasnow let’s go,” she yelled, releasing the behemoth of a  Pokémon , who let out a fearsome roar as he took to the field.

“In that case I better give him a good challenge,” Matt said with a smirk, “It’s your turn girl,” he exclaimed, throwing out his final pokeball.

“Espee!”

The light died down revealing Matt’s Espeon standing in front of him, staring down Candice’s Abomasnow.

“That's an impressive looking Espeon Matt,” Candice commented.

“Thanks, I rescued her as an Eevee nearly seven years ago and she’s stuck by me ever since,” Matt replied with a smile towards his starter, “she normally travels next to me, but wanted a break from the cold,” he explained with a shrug.

“In that case, let's bring the temperature down,” Candice said with a confident smirk, “Abomasnow, use  **Blizzard** ,” she shouted.

“SNOWWWWWWW!” Abomasnow roared, releasing the snowstorm directly towards Espeon.

“ **Protect** ,” Matt ordered immediately.

“Espee!” Espeon cried as the gem on her head glowed, the protective barrier forming around her, as the powerful Blizzard crashed into it a few seconds later, but Espeon didn’t flinch, the protect doing it’s job perfectly.

Candice’s eyes widened slightly,  _ ‘I’ve never seen a Protect hold up that well from one of Abomasnow’s Blizzards,’  _ she thought to herself, before a wide grin broke out on her face, “Abomasnow,  **Razor Leaf** ,” she ordered.

With another loud roar, Abomasnow, sent the barrage of sharp leaves hurtling towards the Sun Pokemon, but Matt wasn’t worried.

“Send ‘em back with **Psychic** ,” he calmly stated.

The leaves that were approaching Espeon stopped in their tracks as her eyes glowed pink, the leaves being encompassed in that same pink energy, before shooting back towards Abomasnow who could do nothing but let them hit, which he wasn’t happy about judging from his latest roar, which was even louder than those previous.

“Lets change this up, use  **Hail** ,” Candice shouted, feeding of Abomasnows anger slightly.

Abomasnow planted his front legs into the ground and let out another loud roar, and the calmness of their surroundings changed in an instant, when a large hailstorm came down upon the battlefield, nearly obscuring Matt’s view of the battle.

_ ‘Clever strategy’ _ Matt thought, as he observed the change in scenery. Most trainers would be panicking now with the noise being made by the hailstorm, but he and Espeon had been together for so long that they had developed a bond between them that could allow them to communicate telepathically with each other.

“Abomasnow use  **Wood Hammer,** now they can't see!” Candice exclaimed gleefully, clearly thinking they had the upper hand.

Matt let out a smirk at this,  _ “Espeon, wait till the last second then use  _ **_Protect_ ** _ again, then as soon as Abomasnow makes contact, send it flying with _ **_Psybeam_ ** _ ,”  _ he said through their link.

_ “Gotcha boss,” _ Espeon chirped back, causing Matt to roll his eyes at her cheek.

Candice, who could see clearly through the hailstorm due to countless years of practice was shocked to see the glowing protective barrier surround Espeon as Abomasnow brought his glowing green fist down in anger, and her shock was doubled when Abomasnow was sent crashing into one of the Icy rocks that littered the field a second after it made contact with the barrier.

_ ‘He didn’t even say anything’ _ she thought to herself.

“Abomasnow are you alright?” she called out to her strongest  Pokémon , getting an affirmative grunt in reply from the Frost Tree  Pokémon , “use  **Ice Shard** then,” she instructed.

_ “Rapid fire  _ **_Shadow Ball_ ** _ , try to dodge any attacks that it sends,” _ Matt said to Espeon.

Espeon collected the large ball of ghostly energy, before releasing it in batches, sending smaller, but still powerful, Shadow Balls towards Abomasnow, one after the other, before dodging the wave of icicles that were heading her way with great poise and flair, wincing slightly as a few still managed to hit her.

Abomasnow was less fortunate, a couple of shadow balls had been intercepted by the wave of ice shards as they passed each other, but the majority still found their mark, making him bellow in pain again.

Candice scrunched her eyes in worry, “Come on Abomasnow, I believe in you,” she cried out, “  **Ice Punch** followed by  **Blizzard** ,” she yelled.

Matt let out a wry grin, seeing his opportunity to finish the battle,  _ “catch him with  _ **_Psychic_ ** , _ then slam him down, if he’s still standing finish it with  _ **_Signal Beam_ ** _.” _

_ “You got it,” _ Espeon replied with a grin of her own, seeing the approaching Abomasnow, his hand encased in ice, and once again her eyes glowed pink as Abomasnow was stopped in his tracks, letting out a cry of confusion as he was lifted high in the air, just as the hailstorm stopped, revealing his predicament for all to see, Matt’s grin growing in size as Candice let out a desperate cry.

“Espeon, what goes up, must come down,” Matt yelled in triumph as with a cry of joy, Espeon slammed the Frost Tree  Pokémon into the icy surface, creating an enormous crater, where it lay unconscious in the bottom.

“Abomasnow is unable to battle, the winner is the challenger Matt,” Graham declared.

Matt let out a deep breath he didn’t realise he was holding as he walked out into the centre of the field, reaching down to scratch Espeon behind the ears, making her let out a content purr.

“Good job girl, you did well, you want a rest?” he asked, getting a vigorous shake in denial, causing him to let out a chuckle as he stood back up to see both Candice and Graham approaching him.

“That was a hell of a battle Matt,” Candice said, extending her hand to shake, which Matt did graciously, “I’ve never seen Abomasnow lose a battle like that before, how did you do it?” she questioned.

“Like I said earlier, I rescued Espeon seven years ago when I was ten just outside the Mistralton, so I didn’t get a normal starter. When she evolved, I realised that because of our bond and that she was a psychic type, we had a telepathic connection, so it meant today I could use that when the hailstorm was in play, if it was any other of my  Pokémon , or anyone else for that matter, they’d be in deep shit,” he explained, getting a laugh out of both Candice and Graham.

“In that case, I have no problem with presenting you with the Icicle badge,” Candice said, holding out the badge for Matt to take, “you are now eligible for the Lily of the Valley conference, congratulations,” she finished.

“Thank you, if I’m ever back in the area and you want another battle like that, let me know,” Matt said with a grin.

“Damn straight I will,” Candice replied, causing all of them to let out another laugh, before Matt stopped suddenly as his Xtranseiver started ringing, becoming concerned when he saw it was Skyla and it was urgent.

“Excuse me for a second,” he said to Candice and Graham as he answered the call, “Hey sis what’s up?” he asked, not saying anything else as she wouldn’t have marked the call as urgent unless it was serious.

“It’s Grandpa, he’s in critical care, you need to come back now,” Skyla explained, her eyes glistening with unshed tears, causing Matt to lose all emotion in his face.

“I’m in Snowpoint City right now, I'll be back in two days,” he said, “keep me posted,” getting a nod in reply, before the call ended.

Matt took a couple of deep breaths to compose himself, before turning back to face Candice and Graham, “I’m sorry, but there’s a family emergency, I need to get back to Mistralton immediately,” he explained.

“It’s fine, I hope your grandfather recovers,” Candice replied.

Matt nodded his head jerkily, “Thank you and thanks again for the battle,” he said, giving another small bow to both of them, before turning and sprinting out of the gym, praying he would be able to get back to Mistralton City before it was too late.


	2. Chapter 2 - Bitter Ends and a New Purpose

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone and welcome back to chapter 2 of A Journey with Purpose

**Chapter 2:** **Bitter ends and a New Purpose**

_ Mistralton Airport, Mistralton City, Unova _

Matt stared out of the window solemnly as the plane touched down on the runway, his heart beating frantically as he worried for his grandfather. He hadn’t heard from his sister since she rang, just over 18 hours ago. Upon leaving the Snowpoint gym, he had headed straight for the Snowpoint Airport, where he had booked the first flight to Mistralton City, which seemed to drag even more than a 14 hour flight normally did. He got out of his seat and stretched, wincing slightly as his back gave a satisfying  _ CRACK _ , before letting Espeon out of her pokeball. Airlines prohibited  Pokémon from being out of their pokeball while in flight but it was fine as soon as they had landed. He scratched her ear absentmindedly as he waited for the other passengers to get off before disembarking himself.

As he exited the plane, he blinked rapidly as his eyes adjusted to the bright skies of Mistralton, before noticing his Sister waiting for him at the bottom as well as Elesa, one of his best friends growing up and more importantly, the youngest gym leader of Nimbasa City, she was only a year older than Matt at 18 and had taken over the Nimbasa gym just over a year ago from her father. 

As he got to the bottom of the stairs, his sister rushed into his arms, enveloping him in a tight hug, and despite her being a full five years older, he dwarfed her in size, his 6foot 2 frame dwarfing her 5foot 5. 

"How's he doing?" Matt asked as they broke away. 

"Still the same, he's resting back at the gym," Skyla replied, as Elesa stepped forward and wrapped Matt in a brief hug in greeting, his face flushing slightly despite the situation which caused Skyla to give him a teasing smirk. 

"Good to see you Matt, I just wish it was under better circumstances," Elesa said with a sad smile. 

"Good to see you too Lesa," Matt replied, using his childhood nickname for her, causing her smile to widen and a faint blush to spread across her face, which was only noticed by Espeon, who smirked before letting her presence be known by butting her head gently against Skyla's leg. 

"And hello to you to Espeon," Skyla laughed, bending down to scratch her ears, Elesa joining her, causing Espeon to let out a happy chirp. 

After a few moments petting the happy psychic type, they stood back up to see Matt smiling at the sight of his sister and his two best friends together before sobering up at the thought of why he was back in Unova. 

Skyla, seeing her brothers smile fade was jolted back as she started to walk over to one of the jeeps parked up near the plane, Matt, Elesa and Espeon following her, with Skyla getting into the driver's seat, Matt and Elesa getting into the back and Espeon curling up on the front passenger seat. 

As they set off across the airport, Skyla, eager to keep the conversation light for the time being, started the conversation. 

"So Matt, did you make it to Snowpoint city before I called?" she asked with curiosity, as the last time they had spoken, Matt was about to start his training for the Snowpoint gym. 

"I'd just finished the gym battle, when you rang actually," Matt replied, smirking slightly as he didn't say anything else, knowing it would drive his sister crazy, and sure enough, it did. 

"Well," she asked impatiently, making Matt chuckle and even Elesa grin a bit. 

"Well what?" Matt asked cheekily. 

"Aargh, just tell me you brat!" Skyla exclaimed, but there was a grin on her face. 

"Ohh you meant did I win?" Matt said in fake understanding, winking at Elesa, who was giggling along. 

"Of course I won, and something surprising happened," he said with a wide grin, "Espeon here took care of Candice's Abomasnow with no issues as well," he added, reaching forward to scratch his starters ears. 

"Espee," she yipped in excitement, causing all three of them to smile. 

"Impressive work, Candice's Abomasnow is a real powerhouse," Elesa commented. 

"Yeah it took some work, but she wasn't prepared for our communication when she summoned a hailstorm which gave us a real advantage," Matt said, sheepishly rubbing his head. 

"Yeah but it's still an impressive achievement, taking out a gym leader's ace battling at full strength so easily," Skyla said as she kept an eye on the hanger looming in front of her, which housed the Mistralton gym.

"But what's this surprise you mentioned then?" Elesa asked, intrigued. 

"I'll show you when we park up," Matt replied, seeing that they were right in front of the gym now, his grandfather's house, that Matt and Skyla had also called home for the last twelve years, off to the side. As he got out of the jeep, he was surprised to see a number of other cars outside of the house, some of which he recognised, his anxiety raising several notches, but didn’t say anything, deciding to wait until he was alone with Skyla.

“So Matt, this surprise then,” Elesa prompted, looking at him expectantly, causing Matt to let out a chuckle as he pulled Ambipoms shrunken pokeball out his pocket, enlarging it quickly before releasing the Long Tail  Pokémon , who was chittering excitedly as she landed.

“Aipom evolved,” Skyla gasped, bending down to pet her, but Ambipom had other ideas, quickly climbing up her body and coming to a stop on her shoulder, where she happily perched, to the amusement of the three humans. 

“Yeah she evolved in the middle of her battle with Glaceon the other day,” Matt said, looking proudly on at his normal type, who was enjoying her new surroundings, never having been to Unova before.

“If you want Matt, you can call all of your  Pokémon out, and they can go into the gym to relax,” Skyla said, “Aerodactyl, Swanna, Unfezant, Swoobat, Skarmory and Mandibuzz are in there with Emolga and Zebstrika.”

“Sure,” Matt replied, reaching into his pocket to take out his other four pokeballs, releasing them at the same time.

“Gal Gal vantula!”

“Miiloo.”

“Geotto!”

“Frax!”

The cries of his other four  Pokémon echoed out as they exited their pokeballs, and soon enough all six of his  Pokémon : Espeon, Ambipom, Galvantula, Milotic, Pidgeotto and Fraxure were surrounding him.

“Hey guys,” Matt said with a smile, “I want you all to follow Espeon into the gym to relax for a bit and mingle with the other  Pokémon there, I’ll come and get you all later,” he explained.

After getting six cries of confirmation, albeit a rather reluctant one from Espeon, he turned back to face Skyla and Elesa.

“Lesa could you give us a minute?” Matt asked, “I just want to speak to Skyla for a minute, we won’t be long.”

“Sure,” Elesa replied uncertainly, “I’ll be inside,” she said, before turning and walking into the house.

“Whats up little bro?” Skyla asked once the door shut.

“It’s worse than what you told me isn’t it,” Matt stated, turning to look his sister in the eyes, “why would every gym leader in Unova be here if it wasn’t.” he said,gesturing to the cars around them.

Skyla just let out a sad sigh, “yeah it’s bad, it’s been steadily getting worse for the last month or so, I was hoping that the doctors could help, but everything that they tried didn’t work unfortunately,” she finished with a sniffle.

“Come on then, he’s been waiting for you,” she said after a few moments, composing herself, before turning and walking into their house, Matt hot on her heels.

Now, for most people, walking into their house and seeing all of the gym leaders in Unova sprawled out across their front room would be a surreal experience, but Matt had accompanied both Skyla and his grandfather, back when he was the Mistralton gym leader, to enough gym leader conferences that he was good friends with all of them. 

“Hey everyone,” Matt said as he walked past, getting subdued greetings from them all in return, everybody knowing it wasn’t really the appropriate time for teasing and more happy welcomes.

Matt and Skyla briskly walked up the stairs and headed towards their grandfather's room, which was at the end of the corridor on the left hand side.

As they entered, Matt got a good look and his grandfather for the first time in a few months, and couldn’t help the wince that escaped. He looked frail, his skin looking pasty and grey in comparison to how he had looked before Matt had left on his journey.

"Hey gramps," he said, trying to remain positive, but his worry must have shown on his face as Miles let out a dry chuckle. 

"Yeah I know, I look like shit," he deadpanned, before succumbing to another coughing fit, making Matt's eyes narrow in concern, as he walked over to his bedside, reaching over to pass him a glass of water, which he took gratefully. 

"I'm sorry to drag you back here for little old me," he said. 

"Don't worry about it," Matt replied quickly, "I'd just got my final badge when Skyla rang, there's still a few months till the Lily of the Valley conference so there's plenty of time to train once your back on your feet," he explained. 

“About that,” Miles trailed off, looking guiltily out of the window for a second before turning back to face his grandchildren, “I’m afraid that my time is at an end,” he stated, to the shock of Skyla and Matt.

“What!?” Skyla shouted, “you can’t just give up like this,” she cried hysterically, her eyes glistening with unshed tears.

Miles shook his head sadly before Matt could add his thoughts, “The doctors have already said they can’t do anything to help, but it’s more than that.” He paused for a second, “your grandmother and parents are waiting for me on the other side.”

All trace of any arguments quickly fled from both Matt and Skyla’s mind after that comment. The two of them hadn’t known their grandmother well, she had died from the same illness that Miles currently had when Skyla was only two years old, but it was the mention of their parents that had really stopped them. Their parents had been two of the greatest pilots in the whole of the Unova region, being able to fly a plane anywhere, anytime, no matter the weather. However, twelve years ago, they had been travelling back to Unova from the Kalos region, their plane lost all of its hydraulics, sending it crashing down, just north of Opelucid City. His parents and the five scientists that were also onboard at the time were killed.

“What do you mean by that?” Matt asked slowly, coming out of his shock first, wrapping his arm around Skyla who was still clearly distressed. 

“I’ve been having the same visions of the three of them when I’ve been sleeping for the last week, and it’s been gradually getting clearer, last night I was able to have a brief conversation with them,” Miles responded, “you should know that they’re all very proud of you both and what you’ve already accomplished,” he said, bringing a sad smile to Matt’s face.

“Before I go and join them, I have something for both of you, something that I’ve been holding on to for a long time until I was beyond confident that you could handle it,” he said, reaching over to his bedside cabinet, opening the top drawer and pulling out two packages, handing one to Skyla and the other one to Matt.

“Go on open them,” he encouraged, before another coughing fit came over, this one thankfully less severe than the one before, as it passed only a few seconds later.

Once he was sure that his grandfather was ok, Matt carefully unwrapped his package, and couldn’t help the gasp that escaped his mouth as he saw what was inside. The first item was a round stone that was predominantly orange, with a red and cream swirl in the middle. The second item was a pendant in the shape of a wing, made primarily out of amethyst. However attached to the tip of the wing, at the bottom of the pendant, was what Matt was really drawn to.

A Key Stone.

It was of similar size to the first stone, but the main difference between the two was that the key stone shone brightly in the low dim of Miles’ room, the multitude of colours pulsating, one after the other. Matt briefly looked over to Skyla to see her holding a beautiful bracelet, a key stone of her own embedded in the centre of it, before tearing his eyes back to his grandfather, who had a wide smile on his face.

“Where did you get these?” Skyla asked, a few moments later as she placed her bracelet back into the packaging. 

“From a friend of mine in the Kalos region that I’ve known for a very long time, he’s one of Professor Sycamore’s assistants, who is one of the leading researchers on mega evolution. I spoke to him a couple of months ago and told him about the two of you, and he was curious about the  Pokémon that you owned. When I told him about your Aerodactyl Skyla and that Matt had just caught a Pidgey, he went to get Professor Sycamore who was very nice to send over two key stones as well as the respective mega stones for Aerodactyl and Pidgeot,” Miles explained, stopping to take a large gulp of water from his bedside when he was finished as Matt and Skyla processed this information.

“Thank you Gramps,” Skyla said gratefully, “but you really didn’t need to do this.”   
  
At her statement, Miles let out a sat, yet wistful smile, “I made myself a promise, the day I heard about your parents deaths,” he said, his eyes glistening slightly, “that I would do everything in my power to help both of you be the best at whatever you set out to be.”

“Skyla, when you followed my interests in Flying type  Pokémon , I was delighted, that’s why I trained you so hard when you said you wanted to take over the gym one day and it was one of the happiest days of my life when you finally took over two years ago.”

“And Matt, I was surprised that you wanted to wait to start your own journey when you turned ten, but I was extremely impressed that you admitted that you weren’t ready to start your own journey, most aspiring trainers, would never admit to something like that. I was even more impressed when you threw yourself into learning everything you could while watching me and your sister at the gym, and when you finally set off on your journey, I knew you’d have great success, and I was right,” he finished with a sad smile, a single tear rolling down his cheek.

“When I spoke to my friend in Kalos, I already knew that I wouldn’t be part of your journey’s for much longer so I was delighted when he offered to send over the keystones. I know that when you master the art of Mega Evolution, nothing will be able to stop you and your  Pokémon if you apply yourselves in the same way as you already have so far, which I have no doubt you will.”   
  
The tears were freely streaming down Skyla’s face again, and a lone tear was slowly trickling down Matt’s cheek, which he quickly wiped away, before a fierce coughing fit overcame Miles, causing him to take another step closer to his bed, but his grandfather waved off his concerns.

“I’m sorry to say, but my time is at an end,” he rasped weakly, “I hope you don’t mourn for too long, because I’ll be alongside you all the way, in here,” he said, gesturing to his heart.

Skyla slowly walked, forward and gave Miles a brief hug, kissing him on his forehead as she stood back up. “Thank you gramps, for everything,” she whispered emotionally as she stepped back, allowing Matt to step forward.

“Say hi to Mom, Dad and Grandma for us,” he said, getting a watery chuckle in response as Miles reached forward to squeeze his hand gently.

“Good luck, both of you, I know you’ll be brilliant,” Miles whispered weakly, as he closed his eyes one last time, his grip going weak, as Matt released his hand, turning and quickly wrapping Skyla in a tight hug, who was freely crying now.

As Matt thought back on his memories of his grandfather, he also couldn’t stop the tears from falling, but at the same time he made a promise to himself.

_ ‘I swear to you gramps, that I will become the best trainer I can be to honour all that you’ve done for me.’ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And scene
> 
> Sorry for the morbid chapter but unfortunately it was the idea I had to give Matt his willpower for his journey. 
> 
> Next chapter will be picking up the pieces before Matt travels back to Sinnoh to train for the Lily of the Valley conference, and he might meet a few familiar faces along the way ;)
> 
> As always, reviews and constructive criticism is welcome 
> 
> Peace out guys.


	3. Grief and Recovery

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone and welcome back to chapter 3 of A Journey with Purpose
> 
> A big Thank you to everyone who has favourited and followed the story so far, I really appreciate it.
> 
> To answer the guest review left on the last chapter, Ash won't be paired with someone like Skyla because there is a 7 year age gap between them in this story, however I'm not ruling someone like Dawn out and actually starting to lean more towards it, but it'll be further down the line if it does happen.
> 
> Hope that clears it up for you :)
> 
> Anyways, on with the show

**Chapter 3:** **Grief and Recovery**

_Mistralton Gym - 1 month later_

Matt looked out of his bedroom window somberly, deep in thought. Immediately following Miles' death, when the news broke to the general public, all the gym leaders had announced that they'd be also closing for a week, and that the Mistralton gym would remain closed for the remainder of the month.

That time had passed quickly, with Skyla borderline unconsolable for the majority of the first week, but she had slowly come out of her shell, with the help of Matt and all of their Pokémon, and soon enough she was mostly back to her old chipper self, but she still had moments where she would break down. Matt had those moments too, but Espeon had knocked some sense into him straight away.

_Flashback - 3 days after Miles' death._

_Matt was slumped against the side of his bed, fresh tear tracks staining his cheeks, as he stared blankly at the wall in front of him._

_"Espee?" a voice enquired from the doorway._

_Matt looked up, seeing his faithful starter standing at the entrance, looking at him inquisitive, her head cocked to the side slightly._

_"Hey Espeon," he said sadly, wiping his eyes quickly._

_"Hey boss," she chirped back, causing Matt to let out a small chuckle._

_"I thought I told you not to call me that," he said, the smirk on his face showing that he wasn't actually angry._

_"I know but it seemed as though you could use the cheer up," she snarked back._

_"Yeah I know, I'm just not in the mood for laughter right now," he sighed, slumping back slightly, seemingly trying to burn a hole in the floor with his eyes._

_He looked up sharply as he felt a stinging sensation against his leg, the Sun_ _Pokémon_ _using her tail to slap his leg._

_"What was that for?" he exclaimed._

_"I know you're upset, but you need to get out of this funk," she admonished, "You made a promise to your grandfather yesterday, and sitting around, moping like it's the end of the world is you not keeping that promise."_

" _You're right," Matt sighed, "it still doesn't make it any easier though."_

" _It's going to be tough, but me and the rest of the gang are always gonna be right beside you come rain or shine, Skyla and Elesa too," Espeon said, winking when she said the Nimbasa gym leaders name, who had stayed with the two of them while her gym was closed, seeing no need to rush back when her friends clearly needed her more._

_Matt rolled his eyes at his starter's comment, before a smile broke out on his face, "thank you," he said, reaching up to scratch his faithful partner behind the ears, getting a content purr in response._

" _So whaddya say boss, should we honor your gramps by training our butts off so we can whoop everyone's ass we come across?" Espeon asked cheerily, getting a chuckle out of Matt as he stood up._

" _Sounds like a plan," he said, brightly, "but remind me to speak to Clay about watching what he says in front of you in the future," he joked as they walked out of his room, side by side. Espeon, being the mature Pokémon that she was, just stuck her tongue out at him in response._

_Flashback end_

Since he had been brought out of his funk, Matt had thrown himself into his training with renewed vigour whenever he could, his Pokémon coming on leaps and bounds as a result of the intense training, but none more so than his Pidgeotto. When they first started, Matt had taken the Bird Pokémon aside to show her the mega stone he had received from Miles, causing her to become extremely excited. Matt had let out a chuckle at hearing his flying types happy squawks, but had told her that he didn't want her to push herself to evolve too early, stating that it could stunt her future growth and make the potential of mega evolution much harder. Pidgeotto was reluctant at first but understood where her trainer was coming from, and agreed not to force anything to happen.

Skyla had been busy as well, also training her Pokémon more intensely than before, paying close attention to her Aerodactyl, the Fossil Pokémon now wearing a metallic brace roughly half way up its tail, its own mega stone firmly embedded within it. It had taken the two of them a few days to work out the details surrounding mega evolution, but once they had gotten the hang of it, it had quickly become second nature to them. Matt had been in attendance when they had successfully mega evolved for the first time, and what he had seen had blown him away.

Aerodactyl had grown slightly, but the major change were the rocky scales that were now littered across his body, as well as the spikes along his wings and tail, As well as that, he was also one tough son of a bitch to beat, the first time Matt and Skyla had sparred, it had taken out Pidgeotto, Fraxure and Galvantula, and had given Espeon a hell of a run for her money before it had finally gone down.

Matt hadn't let this discourage him, and had pushed on even harder, the loss serving to motivate him and his team even more. Training with Skyla's Pokémon had some benefits, as Fraxure had quickly mastered Rock Tomb off of Skyla's Aerodactyl after their first battle and the multitude of flying types meant that Ambipom had no shortage of teachers when she wanted to learn Aerial Ace, something that didn't take her long.

' _A successful months training all said and done,'_ Matt thought to himself as he brought himself out of his musings, turning away from the window and heading downstairs, finding his sister in the kitchen, seemingly deep in thought, Espeon curled up under the table.

"Mornin," he yawned, as he plopped down in the chair across, his starter getting up to rub her head against his leg in greeting, getting a scratch behind the ears in return.

"Morning," Skyla muttered in response, her eyes remaining glued to her cup of coffee, making Matt frown slightly.

"You ready for today?" he asked.

"I'm shitting bricks," she admitted, knowing that her brother could see right through any of her lies.

"What's bothering you?" he questioned.

Skyla let out a deep sigh before she responded. "It's just… it's not going to feel the same, him not watching every gym battle, debriefing me after every win or loss," she said with a small smirk as she reminisced.

"You know that's not true," Matt pointed out, "he'll still be watching, even if you can't see him, he'll be there," he said with a small smile on his face.

"And even so, I'll still be watching you before I head back to Sinnoh tomorrow afternoon," he continued, his smile changing to a teasing smirk, "so i'll be able to point out everything you're doing wrong," getting a punch to his shoulder for his comment, "see, I knew you'd agree."

"Arsehole," Skyla muttered as she went to take another sip of her coffee, but the smile on her face told another story.

Thirty minutes later, the two siblings headed out towards the gym, Espeon trotting along beside her trainer, and when they got closer to the hangar, they were shocked to see the large queue of trainers waiting outside.

Skyla came to an abrupt halt when she saw the queue, causing Matt to frown and turn back to face his sister.

"You good?" he asked.

"I will be, I just wasn't expecting this many people before the gym even opened," she said.

"Alright, you can rotate three at a time in 3 v 3's, using your regular six as well as Fletchinder, Drifloon and Togetic, they should have sufficient rest between battles," Matt said, getting a weird smile from his sister.

"What?"

"You sounded exactly like Gramps when I first took over the gym."

Matt let out a small laugh at Skyla's comment before turning serious again.

"Also if the phrase 'air battles' comes out of your mouth at any point, I will kill you, kapeesh." he warned.

Skyla just rolled her eyes. "Don't worry about that, I'm not that idiot anymore," referencing the time just after she took over as gym leader, when she was missing flying her plane, so in order to spend more time flying, she created these 'air battles', where she compared her team with her challengers and awarded the badge if they had an advantage over her. Needless to say, when Miles found out, he was furious and she quickly realised how idiotic she was being and went back to regular gym battles, where she quickly fell back in love with the art of proper battling, and easily established herself as one of the toughest gym leaders in Unova.

After a minute to compose herself, Skyla pushed forward towards the main entrance, Matt right behind her. When they got to the queue of trainers waiting, everyone had fallen silent, waiting for Skyla to speak.

"Hey everyone," she said happily, easily slipping back into her old routine, "thank you all for waiting, I'll say this straight away, today will be a long day, all the battles will be three on three so there'll be a twenty minute break between each one, so we should be able to get through everyone here by the end of the day. We need a few minutes to open the gym and make sure everything's ready to go and then we'll begin."

"Mind if I ref for today?" Matt asked as they started opening the hangar door, revealing the vast arena inside, the rocky battlefield looking cleaner than ever.

"Sure I'd love you to, but I better not be seeing you write down any strategies for when you finally decide to challenge me properly," Skyla teased. Matt, being the mature trainer that he was, stuck his tongue out at her, as he walked over to the back of the hangar, pulling down on the lever that would open the roof of the hangar.

After a few more checks, they were ready to rumble, and Matt went back outside to call the challengers in.

"What's your name?" he asked the challenger at the front of the queue.

"I'm Dave from Driftveil City," the now identified Dave replied.

"And how many badges do you currently have Dave?"

"Three currently, this is my first league challenge," he responded.

"Aright, are you ok with a three on three battle?" Matt asked, getting a nod in reply, "Alright take your place in the challenger box and we'll get the show on the road, good luck."

As Matt walked to the centre of the field he held up three fingers on his left hand and a single finger on his right, indicating to Skyla how many badges her first challenger had as well as how many leagues he'd competed in. Skyla nodded and adjusted a slider on her Poke balls that could scale her Pokémon to the experience of her challenger.

"This is an official Mistralton City gym battle between the challenger Dave from Driftveil City and the gym leader Skyla from Mistralton City," Matt announced as he got to the centre of the battlefield. "Both sides can use up to three Pokémon each, and the battle will be over when all three Pokémon on either side are unable to battle. Furthermore, only the challenger will be allowed to substitute Pokémon during the course of the battle."

"Please send out your first Pokémon."

"Dewott, I choose you," Dave cried.

"Alright, now Swoobat, take off!" Skyla exclaimed.

"Let the challenge begin!

**AJWP - o - o - o - o - o - AJWP**

"Phew that was a long day," Matt said as he helped Skyla close up the gym, the last challenger having just left, a shiny Jet Badge clutched in his hand. Espeon was curled up on the floor in the referee's box, dozing, but was quickly woken up by her trainer as they started to pack up

"You got that right, I hope it's not like that for too long," Skyla replied, as she closed the roof of the hangar.

"It would've been even worse than that if there were only eight gyms in Unova," Matt pointed out. Unova was different to other regions when it came to collecting gym badges, trainers still had to collect eight gym badges, but there were ten gyms in total, so trainers had a choice of which eight to collect.

"I guess you're right," she admitted, "it was good to get back into the swing of things."

"I'm always right," Matt teased, his sister just rolling her eyes in response, as they slowly walked out of the hangar and back towards the house.

"You were right earlier by the way," Skyla commented as she opened the door to their house, getting a questioning look from Matt, "I could feel Gramps watching us at times throughout the day," she explained.

"I could feel it too," Matt said softly, a sad smile on his face, "he made us a promise that he'd be watching and it's up to us to keep our promises as well."

"Damn straight," she replied, getting a small chuckle out of her brother, "so what time is your flight to Oreburgh tomorrow," she asked, changing the subject.

"Just after noon," Matt replied offhandedly, "I'm probably going to head to Hearthome first, apparently there's some sort of competition going on there next week so I might check it out," he explained, unaware of Skyla's head snapping in his direction, an evil grin forming on her face briefly, before she schooled her features as Matt looked towards her.

"You gonna be alright without me?" he asked, a teasing tone in his voice, but a serious undercurrent could be heard underneath it.

"I'll be fine, but I do expect you to keep in touch from time to time," she teased back, "and I'll try to come and see you in the finals of the conference," getting an eye roll in response.

Skyla suddenly let out a large yawn, stretching, "today really took it out of me, I'm going to head to bed, I'll see you off tomorrow morning," she said, giving Matt a hug, before reaching down to scratch Espeon's ears.

"Night sis."

"Espee Espeon."

Matt looked down at the Sun Pokémon at his side, "come on then, we better get some rest too, it's gonna be a long day tomorrow."

 _"Okie dokie boss,"_ Espeon chirped, as she followed her trainer and friend up the stairs and into his room, where she quickly leapt up onto his bed, curling up at the foot of it.

Matt just sighed at his starter, "I told you not to call me that," as he quickly got ready for bed, turning the lights off before climbing into bed, his thoughts turning to the future, and the months ahead as he stepped up his training for his first league conference, drifting off to sleep with a content smile on his face.

**AJWP - o - o - o - o - o - AJWP**

_KNOCK KNOCK_

Matt looked up as he heard the knock on his open door, seeing his sister standing in the doorway.

"You nearly ready?" she asked, leaning against the door frame as Espeon trotted over to her, rubbing her head against her knee.

"Yep, just double checking everything," Matt replied, as he rummaged through his rucksack, before carefully closing it up.

"Got plenty of clean underwear?" she teased, getting an eye roll in reply.

"Yes Mom," Matt groaned mock petulantly, hoisting the rucksack on his shoulder as he accompanied his sister out of his room and down the stairs.

As he reached the front room, he stopped and turned to look at his starter, who immediately started shaking her head, seemingly knowing what he was going to stay.

"I'm sorry Espeon but you know that you can't stay out of your ball while we're on the plane," he said apologetically as he pulled her shrunken Safari ball out from his pocket.

 _"You owe me some ice cream for this boss,"_ she deadpanned after a few moments of silence.

"You and your ice cream obsession," he muttered as he recalled her in a flash of red light, turning back to face his sister, who was grinning at him.

"What?" he asked.

"She really has you wrapped around her tail good and proper," she teased.

Matt just shrugged sheepishly, knowing she was right as he stared out of the window solemnly.

"Hey you alright?" Skyla asked in concern, noticing his change in mood.

"Yeah yeah," he sighed, "I just hope I don't screw anything up for him you know."

"You know you won't," Skyla said softly, "you rolled through all the Sinnoh gyms in no time and sure they're not Unova gyms," she said with fake arrogance, getting a laugh out of Matt, "but for you to do that on basically your first journey, by the time the Lily of the Valley conference comes around, I know you'll make all of us proud."

Matt smiled gratefully at his sister after she finished, "Thanks sis," he said, giving her a hug, which she returned eagerly.

"You gonna be alright," he asked again.

"Absolutely, I'm sure the others will keep popping in at times, and with your calls I'll be fine and dandy," she replied cheerfully.

"Good to hear," Matt chuckled, as he adjusted his rucksack, "well I better be off, my flight will be boarding soon," he explained, giving Skyla another hug, before opening the door.

As he stepped outside, he looked out over Mistralton airport, and the mountains behind it, letting out a deep breath as he prepared to resume his journey, and not stop until he had honored his promise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And scene
> 
> Not a brilliant chapter I admit but this was always meant to be a filler chapter before Matt travelled back to Sinnoh, it was a bit difficult to write too, but hopefully I can pick up the pace for the next chapter.
> 
> Like always, reviews and constructive criticism is welcome and please follow/favourite if you feel like it
> 
> Peace out guys :)


	4. New Friends and Enemies

**Chapter 4:** **New Friends and Enemies**

_Route 208, Sinnoh, 1 week later_

The late afternoon Sinnoh sun was beating down upon Matt and Espeon as they leisurely walked along route 208, as they looked for somewhere just off it to set up camp for the night. After a few minutes wandering, they found a path leading off the main route, a small clearing barely visible in the distance.

Matt looked down at his starter, "What d'you reckon, should we check it out?" he asked.

Espeon nodded her head before scampering down the trail, causing Matt to let out a chuckle, "I'll take that as a yes then," he murmured to himself, as he set off after his exuberant Psychic type.

A few minutes later, they arrived at the clearing they had seen. It was fairly small, but had plenty of cover from the surrounding trees and was still big enough to do some training later on. He quickly set to work, putting his rucksack on the ground and removing his tent and sleeping bag from the top, thankful that Skyla had managed to convince him to buy the new trainer tent, which could be folded up much smaller than a regular tent and was also much easier to erect and take apart. And true to its description, only a couple of minutes later, his tent was erected and his sleeping bag was placed inside of it.

He emerged from his tent to see Espeon walking back into the clearing, the gem on her forehead glowing as she used Psychic to carry a pile of sticks with her, dropping them in the middle of the clearing.

"Thanks Espeon," Matt said gratefully, turning back to his rucksack to take out some Pokémon food, as well as six bowls to place it in.

He had just finished emptying the last can into the bowls, all the while trying to keep his hungry starter from starting early, when a funny feeling came across him, followed by a sense that he was in imminent danger.

"Espeon, **Protect** ," he ordered sharply, startling the Sun Pokémon, but she still complied almost instantly, her gem glowing once again as the glimmering green shield forming around them in the nick of time, as a wall of flames made contact just a few seconds later, that easily would've burnt the two of them to a crisp.

He looked up sharply, once the flames had dissipated, seeing a monstrous Salamence hovering above the treeline, a gray haired woman wearing a navy trench coat, goggles and a funny looking contraption on her right forearm, standing on top of it.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing," he roared angrily, glaring up at their attackers.

"Trying to take that Espeon off your hands," she replied noncommittally, seemingly not caring that she had nearly killed them, "Salamence, **Flamethrower** again," she commanded.

"Use **Psychic** to divert it up," Matt instructed, Espeon's eyes lighting up as the torrential flames heading towards them stopped suddenly, before shooting up into the sky, frightening a flock of Starly and Staravia that were flying overhead.

"Not bad, an Espeon of that quality will fetch a very good price," the still unidentified woman muttered, as he reached into the pockets of her coat, pulling out another pokeball, "go Drapion."

The Ogre Scorpion Pokémon burst out of its ball with an angry roar, staring down Matt and Espeon with distaste.

"You'll take her over my dead body," Matt snarled, "Milotic, I need your help," he said, releasing his water type

"That can be arranged," she said with a cruel smile, "Salamence, **Dragon Pulse** , Drapion, **Pin Missile** , aim for that brat."

"Espeon, block with **Shadow Ball** , rapid fire, Milotic use **Scald** on Drapion." Matt responded instantly, Espeon rapidly sending out the balls of ghostly energy at an astonishing rate, colliding with both attacks, sending a loud explosion echoing through the forest, kicking up a cloud of smoke across the clearing. Milotic, using the smoke to her advantage, sending the stream of boiling water through the smoke, hitting Drapion directly in the face, making the behemoth roar in agony.

"Hmph," his assailant grunted, "you're turning out to be an annoyance, Salamence **Hyper Beam**."

"Milotic, use **Protect** ," Matt said, "then use **Ice Beam** as soon as you drop the shield," he muttered the second part under his breath so that only his Pokémon could hear him, before switching to telepathy, " _Espeon,_ _ **Dazzling Gleam**_ _, make them suffer a bit."_

Miilooo," Milotic cried, as the green shield formed around them once again, but not before Espeon's gem glowed brightly again, releasing a flash of fae energy at their two foes, causing both of them to roar in pain, Salamence unable to move after releasing the devastating Hyper Beam attack, but Milotic held strong, the barrier not wavering under the strain. As soon as the barrier dropped, Milotic reared up, charging the icy energy and launching it into the air, causing the Salamence's eyes to widen in panic.

"Salamence dodge, Drapion return," the woman ordered harshly, seeing the Scorpion struggling to get back to his feet after Espeon's attack. The Dragon Pokémon quickly veered to the left, the Ice Beam harmlessly passing by.

"You're really starting to piss me off kid," the woman shouted as the Salamence came to a halt, "just give up and you won't get hurt."

"How about you fuck off instead," Matt yelled back defiantly, glaring hatefully up at her.

"Very well, Salamence use **Dragon Pulse** ,"

"Espeon, send it up with **Psychic** again, Milotic launch another **Ice Beam** ," Matt commanded. However more voices came from behind him, making Matt spin around quickly, fearing for a second that he had been surrounded. Thankfully that wasn't the case.

"Pikachu, help out with **Thunderbolt**."

"You too Piplup, use **Bubblebeam**."

The arc of lightning and the stream of bubbles joined Milotic's Ice Beam in heading towards Salamence, the Dragon Pokémon barely dodging the multitude of attacks.

"Salamence retreat, we'll be back again," the woman commanded, looking down at Matt and his help warily as they steadied themselves.

"You better watch yourself trainer, I'll be back and there won't be anything you can do to stop me," she snarled as her Salamence let out a deep roar, before turning and soaring off towards Mt. Coronet.

Matt let out a deep sigh of relief as he saw her flying away, thankful that she hadn't managed to take off with any of his Pokémon.

"You two alright," he asked, as he walked forward towards Milotic and Espeon to make sure they were alright.

"Miloo," Milotic cried in confirmation, nuzzling her head against his shoulder, getting a smile from her trainer.

 _"All good boss,"_ Espeon chirped through their bond, _"but you might want to thank your guests as well."_

His starter's words made Matt turn around sharply, he had forgotten about the group of trainers that had come to his aid.

**POV Change**

_Route 208 - 5 minutes earlier_

"Hey guys, should we find someplace to stop for the night soon? It'll be dark in an hour or so," fifteen year old Ash Ketchum asked his travelling partners, eighteen year old Brock Harrison and fifteen year old Dawn Berlitz, as he stared up at the scorching southern Sinnoh sun, his ever faithful partner Pikachu perched on his shoulder.

"Yeah sounds good, we've probably got another two days' walk before we reach Hearthome, the contest is in four days, so there's still time," Brock mused before turning to the bluenette, "Dawn, what d'you think?" he asked.

"Good with me, still plenty of time to train so we'll be ready to win our second ribbon," she replied cheerily as she looked down at the small penguin Pokémon in her arms, "Right Piplup?"

"Pip lup lup," he chirped back, getting a wide smile from his trainer.

"Alright then, keep an eye-"

Ash was suddenly interrupted by a loud explosion that sent a flock of Pidgeys flying out of the forest to their left, the three trainers having to duck in order to dodge them all. As they slowly got back to their feet, they could see a plume of smoke rising from deep in the forest.

"What the hell was that?" Dawn exclaimed, as she picked up Piplup who had jumped out of her arms when the explosion went off, the little water type scared out of his mind.

"No idea, but it came from over there," Ash said, pointing over to where the smoke was rising from the treetops, "Through here!" he shouted, noticing the trail that led into the forest, and quickly set off at a run down it.

"Ash wait up," Dawn cried, as she and Brock chased after their spirited friend, praying that he wouldn't get himself in any trouble, not that the Pallet native actively went looking for trouble, it just had an uncanny knack of finding him.

As the three friends ran deeper into the forest, the sounds of a Pokémon battle were getting louder. But this didn't sound like a typical trainer battle. _'There's a lot more swearing than a normal battle,'_ Ash thought with a slight sweat drop as he continued on, seeing a small clearing at the end of the path.

A couple of minutes later, he burst into the clearing, Dawn and Brock still hot on his heels, and what they saw made their blood boil. Hunter J was standing atop her Salamence, who had just dodged out of the way of a powerful Ice Beam attack. Her target seemed to be a teenage male, around the same age as Brock, he had short brown hair, with a couple of red streaks scattered through. He was wearing a white T-shirt and black joggers, with a grey hoodie wrapped around his waist, and finally, he was wearing a pair of navy sneakers. In front of him were two Pokémon that Ash easily recognised as Espeon and Milotic, who like their trainer, were glaring up at the Pokémon hunter hatefully.

"Very well, Salamence use **Dragon Pulse** ,"

"Espeon, send it up with **Psychic** again, Milotic launch another **Ice Beam** ,"

Shaking his head slightly, Ash came out of his stupor, turning to his faithful yellow mouse perched on his shoulder, "Pikachu, help out with **Thunderbolt** ," he shouted.

"You too Piplup, use **Bubblebeam** ," Dawn cried, dropping her starter next to Pikachu so he could help out.

"PIKACHUUUUUU."

"PIIP LUPLUPLUPLUPP."

Both Pokémon let out loud cries as they released their attacks, joining another Ice Beam attack in heading directly at Salamence, who only barely dodged the three attacks. Hunter J seemingly surprised at them helping the mysterious trainer, but scowling once she recognised the three of them from their 'adventure' with Melodi.

"Salamence retreat, we'll be back again," J commanded, looking down at the four of them warily as they steadied themselves.

"You better watch yourself trainer, I'll be back and there won't be anything you can do to stop me," she snarled as her Salamence let out a deep roar, before turning and soaring off towards Mt. Coronet.

Ash let out a deep sigh of relief as he watched the Pokémon hunter fly off, turning his attention back to Pikachu, who quickly scampered up his arm, coming to a stop upon his regular position on Ash's shoulder.

"Good job buddy," Ash said as he scratched his starter behind the ears.

"Chaaa," the mouse Pokémon squealed, leaning into his hand, before a small cough got their attention, Ash looking up to see the trainer looking at them with a wry grin, his Espeon and Milotic standing either side of him.

"Thank you for that," he said gratefully, "the bitch couldn't seem to take a hint," causing the three of them to burst into laughter.

"Yeah, Hunter J doesn't seem to know when to stop," Ash joked, "I'm Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town in Kanto by the way, and this is my buddy Pikachu," he said, pointing to the mouse Pokémon perched on his shoulder, "This is Dawn Berlitz and her partner Piplup from Twinleaf Town, and this is Brock Harrison from Pewter City, also in Kanto" he finished as he gestured to Dawn and Brock on either side of him.

"It's nice to meet you all, my name is Matt Fuuro and I'm from Mistralton City in Unova," the now identified Matt said, giving them a small bow, the foreign region taking Ash and the others by surprise.

"Unova, where's that?" Ash asked curiously.

"It's a region to the east of here, not many people are aware of it, to be honest, with how far away it is, and there are Pokémon that aren't seen in other regions," Matt explained, "if you were to visit Unova a lot of people would notice you, as Pokémon such as Pikachu and Piplup are almost unheard of," he continued, causing Ash's eyes to widen in a mixture of shock and excitement.

"Wow that's awesome," he exclaimed, "what sort of Pokémon?" he questioned eagerly.

Matt let out a small chuckle seeing the Pallet town native's enthusiasm, "well, there are still Pokémon, more common to other regions like Eevee and its evolutions and Milotic," he said, gesturing to the two Pokémon next to him. Dawn, still being fairly new to Pokémon that were not as common in Sinnoh, hadn't seen either of the Pokémon before and quickly brought out her Pokédex.

**Espeon, the Sun Pokémon, and one of the eight evolved forms of Eevee.** **Its fur is so sensitive, it can sense minute shifts in the air and predict the weather.**

**Milotic, the Tender Pokémon and the evolved form of Feebas. At the first sign of fighting, Milotic will come up from the bottom of its lake habitat to calm any angry feelings.**

"Wow," Dawn murmured under her breath, ' _I bet Milotic would be a great Pokémon to use in an appeal,'_ she thought to herself, placing her Pokédex back in her bag as she stared at the water type, before Ash's next question broke her out of her thoughts.

"What about Pokémon native to Unova?"

Matt grinned as he pulled out four shrunken pokeballs from his pocket, enlarging two of them, before throwing them up in the air.

"Vantulaa."

"Fraxure Frax."

Two cries echoed throughout the clearing as two Pokémon materialised in twin flashes of white light. The Pokémon on the left had the appearance of a four-legged spider with a yellow body, and a lilac and purple underbelly. The Pokémon on the right however, was a bipedal, draconic looking Pokémon with long grey tusks that had red tips.

"Wow they look strong," Ash commented, as Matt reached into his rucksack to pull out his own Pokédex, before handing it to Ash, who eagerly scanned the two unknown Pokémon.

**Galvantula, the EleSpider Pokémon and the evolved form of Joltik. Galvantula captures its enemies using its electrically-charged threads.**

**Fraxure, the Axe Jaw Pokémon and the evolved form of Axew. After battle, this Pokémon carefully sharpens its tusks on river rocks. It needs to take care of its tusks—if one breaks, it will never grow back.**

"Galvantula is a Bug and Electric type, and Fraxure is a Dragon type," Matt said, as Ash gave the Pokédex back to the Unovan native, who took it with a grateful smile.

"I almost wanna pack up and jump on the next flight to Unova if I wasn't in the middle of challenging the gyms here in Sinnoh," Ash said wistfully, causing Matt's eyebrow to raise slightly and a grin to form on his face.

"So you're here to challenge the gyms and compete in the Lily of the Valley conference?" he asked.

"Yeah that's right," Ash replied enthusiastically, "my dream is to one day become a Pokémon master isn't that right Pikachu," he continued, turning to his starter as he spoke.

"Pika Pi Pikachu," the small electric type cheered.

"A noble goal to have Ash, what about you Dawn and Brock?"

"I want to become a top Coordinator like my mom one day," Dawn said.

"Piplup!"

"I was the gym leader at Pewter City, but I handed it over to my younger brother Forrest in order to become a Pokémon breeder, with the aim of one day becoming a Pokémon doctor," Brock explained, "what about you Matt?"

Matt looked down sadly for a second before he answered, "I'm competing in the Lily of the Valley conference too, but I guess my goal is to just honor my promise I made to my grandfather just before he died, which was to become the strongest trainer and person I can be," he said.

"I'm sorry about your grandfather," Brock said somberly.

"Thank you," he replied, before quickly changing the subject, "so Ash, how many leagues have you competed in," he asked curiously.

"This is my fourth proper league, I came top 16 at the Indigo Plateau, and Top 8 at the Silver conference and the Evergrande conference. I currently have two badges and we were on our way to Hearthome City so that I can battle the gym leader there and so Dawn can compete in the Hearthome contest."

"Wow that's some impressive achievements," Matt said, "this is actually my first time entering a league competition, I already have all of the Sinnoh gym badges and I was planning on spending the next few months travelling while training for the Lily of the Valley conference." he explained, to the surprise of his new friends.

"Really, I'm surprised, your Espeon and Milotic seem to be really strong," Ash commented.

"I've had Espeon for just over seven years, I found her hurt in the woods just outside Mistralton city and helped nurse her back to health, she decided to stay with me when she was back to full strength and we've been inseparable ever since. But for the last few years, I've been helping my grandfather and sister Skyla in the Mistralton gym, my sister became the gym leader a couple of years ago, I just helped out, usually refereeing matches and learning everything I could of off them so I was 100% sure I was ready to start my journey."

"Wow that's some story," Dawn gushed.

"What type does your sister specialise in?" Ash asked eagerly.

"She's a master of flying types," Matt replied easily.

"Awesome," Ash said, before noticing how dark it had gotten while they had been talking, "wow it really does get dark fast here, it's still hard to believe."

"You're all more than welcome to stay here for the night," Matt said, "I had just finished unpacking myself when Hunter J ambushed me."

"That's very nice of you Matt thank you," Brock replied gratefully, before Ash's eyes lit up as he had an idea.

"Hey Matt, if you want, why don't you travel with us," he said, "It'll be more fun travelling with friends than on your own."

"Ash that's a great idea, whaddya say Matt?" Dawn said, Brock nodding happily with them as well.

Matt pondered the decision for a couple of seconds, before breaking into a smile of his own, "Sure, I'd love to travel with you guys, thank you," he said happily.

"Awesome."

"Pika Pika!"

"Piplup!"

And with that, a big smile broke out across Matt's face as he took in his new friends and now travelling partners, eagerly awaiting the adventures that lay in store for the four of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And Scene.
> 
> Matt has been introduced to the gang and he's agreed to travel with them while Ash collects his remaining gym badges and Dawn competes for her contest ribbons. The next chapter will be their arrival at Hearthome City and Hearthome contest.
> 
> Hunter J will be back though and she'll be out for revenge...
> 
> This will be my first attempt at writing contests so fair warning if it's crap :)
> 
> Peace out guys.

**Author's Note:**

> And scene
> 
> I hope this chapter was alright, this is my first time writing a Pokemon battle scene so hopefully I didn’t screw it up too much, I hope over the course of the story they’ll be better.
> 
> Any reviews and constructive criticism is welcome, along with what I said at the beginning about potential captures (not just for Matt) and random trainers.
> 
> Peace out


End file.
